Photos by KATHY CLEVELAND Photos by KATHY CLEVELAND Photo by Kathy Cleveland Librarian Tanya Griffith helps Megan Cheong and Christine Rosenblatt make DIY seedling pots at the Hollis Social Library.

HOLLIS – There’s nothing like gardening to make you feel one with the Earth.

You plant a tiny seed, and it grows into an herb or a vegetable you can feed your family.

But buying baby plants in plastic pots disturbs that all-natural feeling a bit. How about biodegradable pots you don’t have to buy?

That was the idea at the Hollis Social Library recently as librarian Tanya Griffith led a do-it-yourself workshop on making your own seed-starter pots out of folded newspaper and making your own colorful plant markers out of chopsticks and duct tape.

The women sat around a table in a library conference room and tried not to make too much of a mess as they first folded paper into the little pots and then filled them with potting mix.

When the pots were ready, the participants filled them with potting mix, added seed and stuck in the markers. With regular watering, parsley, oregano, basil and cherry tomatoes will be sprouting out of them.

And when the seedling is big enough, the entire pot can be planted in the ground, because the newspaper will biodegrade.

“I love the idea of putting them in the ground and not having plastic pots,” Griffith said.

Participants took home illustrated brochures with step-by-step instructions on making the pots and markers.

The seedling pot workshop was part of Griffith’s DIY series. There will be two more workshops, on making garden chimes, on Wednesday-Thursday, May 3-4. Most of the DIY programs are for ages 16 and older, and all require registration.

For more information, visit www.hollislibrary.org.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100 or kcleveland@cabinet.com.